APS145

Applied Problem Solving

Black Box
Black Box – What is it?

A plain old box that happens to be black?

A system recorder on a plain?

A company?
https://www.blackbox.com/en-us/about-us
 Black Box - Described

▪ INPUT is provided to a process

▪ The process (BLACK BOX) uses the input in some way
▪ OUTPUT is generated

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Input ? Black Box ? Output
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Black Box – Types

1. Black Box is unknown or unknowable

2. Black Box is not required to be known
3. Black Box is top secret and should never be
revealed
Black Box – Types

1. Black Box is unknown or unknowable

2. Black Box is not required to be known
3. Black Box is top secret and should never be
revealed
 Black Box – Uses

Black Box is unknown or unknowable

Example: A drug treatment that works but doctor’s don’t totally
know why.
▪ Input: Drug prescribed to a patient with symptoms
▪ Output: Patient responds with reduced symptoms
▪ Black Box contains the process in which the drug acts upon
the patient—this is not always understood
Black Box – Types

1. Black Box is unknown or unknowable

2. Black Box is not required to be known
3. Black Box is top secret and should never be
revealed
 Black Box – Uses

Black Box is not required to be known…

Example: A business user who needs lookup the details for a given
client:
▪ Input: Client Number (ID)
▪ Output: Full details of the client (Name, Address, Products, etc…)
▪ Black Box: Contains the necessary process in which the database
lookup is performed given the client number provided and returns
the required results to the user (it is not needed for the client to
know how this was done)
Black Box – Types

1. Black Box is unknown or unknowable

2. Black Box is not required to be known
3. Black Box is top secret and should never be
revealed
 Black Box – Uses

Black Box is top secret and should never be revealed…

Example: Encryption/decryption algorithms such as authentication
for a user login.
▪ Input: User login and password fields
▪ Output: Access or denied access to the system
▪ Black Box: Contains the necessary process in which the user login
and password is encrypted and compared against the system’s
encrypted entry for the given user login; if it matches it’s a valid
login otherwise it fails.
Black Box: Example 1 (Hack it!)

INPUT: 5
OUTPUT: 15
Black Box: What is it doing???
Black Box: Example 1 (Revealed)

▪ INPUT:
– Whole number (Type: Integer)
▪ Process: (Hidden Black Box)
5
– Perform simple calculation:
(input * 4) – 5
So: 20 – 5 = 15
5*4-5
▪ OUTPUT:
– Whole number (Type: Integer)
– The result of the process
15
Black Box: Example 2 (Hack it!)

▪ INPUT: BISON
▪ OUTPUT: 14151992
▪ Black Box: What is it doing???
Black Box: Example 2 (Revealed)

▪ INPUT: “BISON”
BISON

▪ Process: (Hidden Black Box) Letter position

Letter’s position in alphabet
B=2; I=9; S=19, O=15, N=14
Reverse Order
Place in reverse order: 14 15 19 9 2

▪ OUTPUT:
14151992
14151992
Black Box: Example 3 (Hack it!)

Warning: This one is crazy!

▪ INPUT: 1 sheet of cardboard
▪ OUTPUT: An airplane left-wing
▪ Black Box: What is it doing???
Black Box: Example 3 (Revealed)

▪ INPUT:
1 sheet
1 sheet of cardboard of
cardboard

▪ Process: (Hidden Black Box)

View Process # of sheets map to
airplane parts

▪ OUTPUT:
Airplane left-wing Airplane
Left-Wing
 Black Box: Example 3 (Revealed)

1 sheet => An airplane left-wing

2 sheets => Two airplane wings (left/right)
3 sheets => Two airplane wings (left/right) and a fuselage (main body)
4 sheets => Two airplane wings, a fuselage, and a tail section
5 sheets => Two airplane wings, a fuselage, a tail section, and a landing gear
6 sheets => One airplane, 1 Tire
7 sheets => One airplane, 2 Tires
8 sheets => One airplane, 3 Tires
9 sheets => One airplane, 4 Tires
10 sheets => One airplane, 4 Tires, car body
11 sheets => One airplane, one car, 1 chair
12 sheets => One airplane, one car, 2 chairs
13 sheets => One airplane, one car, 3 chairs
14 sheets => One airplane, one car, 4 chairs
15 sheets => One airplane, one car, 4 chairs, table
16+ sheets => 1 airplane, 1 car, table/chair set and (N-15) returned cardboard sheets
100 => 1 airplane, 1 car, table/chair set and (N-15) returned cardboard sheets